SBB - "MEMENTO Z BANALNYM TRYPTYKIEM" (1981) + EXODUS - "SUPERNOVA" (1982)

SBB - "Memento z banalnym tryptykiem"
Recorded in february 1980, released in february 1981.
136.000 copies sold in 1981 (second best selling album of the year in Poland).
Tenth studio album for the band, which debuted in 1974.

Apostolis Antymos - electric guitar (tracks 1, 3 & 4), acoustic guitar (track 4)
Jerzy Piotrowski - drums (tracks 1, 3 & 4), percussion (tracks 1, 3 & 4)
Sławomir Piwowar - electric guitar (all tracks), acoustic guitar (tracks 2 & 4), keyboards (track 3), bass (track 4)
Józef Skrzek - keyboards (all tracks), bass (tracks 1, 3 & 4), vocals (tracks 1 & 4), harmonica (track 3)

Music composed by Józef Skrzek (tracks 1 & 4), Sławomir Piwowar (track 2), Apostolis Antymos (track 3), Jerzy Piotrowski (track 3)
Lyrics (tracks 1 & 4): Julian Matej
Producer: Edward Spyrka

Exodus - "Supernova"
Recorded in october-november 1981, released at the very end of 1982.
476.000 copies sold in 1983 (best selling album of the year in Poland).
Second studio album for the band, which debuted in 1978.

Paweł Birula - vocals, acoustic guitar
Zbigniew Fyk - drums, percussion
Władysław Komendarek - keyboards
Andrzej Puczyński - acoustic & electric guitar
Wojciech Puczyński - bass

Music composed by Paweł Birula (tracks 1, 3, 5 & 8), Zbigniew Fyk (tracks 1 & 4), Władysław Komendarek (tracks 1, 2 & 6), Andrzej Puczyński (tracks 1, 2, 4, 6, 7 & 8), Wojciech Puczyński (tracks 1 & 4)
Lyrics: Andrzej Puczyński (tracks 1, 2, 4, 6, 7 & 8), Małgorzata Maliszewska (tracks 3 & 5)
Producer: Witold Trenkler

These two albums are not directly related, but I'm posting them together because they basically ended the glorious Polish progressive rock season. Their atmospheric, tecnological sound somehow predated the British neo-prog movement. 
Both Exodus and SBB disbanded after these albums, only to reunite in the following decades.

DOWNLOAD SBB: "MEMENTO..." (kbps: 320)

DOWNLOAD EXODUS: "SUPERNOVA" (kbps: 320)

 

FONOGRÁF - "ÚTKÖZBEN" (1978) & "JELENKOR" (1984)

János Bródy (guitars), Levente Szörényi (guitars, vocals), and Szabolcs Szörényi (bass), all former members of psychedelic rock band Illés, decided to form a new group at the beginning of 1974.

Fonográf debuted that same year, and despite being a sextet, their line-up would have stayed the same throughout their ten years history. The three other members were Mihály Móricz (guitars), Oszkár Németh (drums, percussion), and László Tolcsvay (keyboards, guitars, vocals).

They released seven studio albums (eight if we count the soundtrack of "István, a király", about which I will write in the near future), with "Útközben" and "Jelenkor" being by far my favourites.

It's hard to decide which one is better, since they are both terrific records. It probably depends on which kind of music you prefer, considering they are radically different from each other.

"Útközben", their fifth album, is a soft rock masterpiece influenced by country music, West Coast harmonies, and funky rhythms. It also makes a heavy use of synthesizers, which is quite unusual for this kind of stuff.

"Jelenkor", their last album, is way darker. You can place somewhere between AOR and neo-prog, with sci-fi atmospheres influenced by both space rock and new wave.

DOWNLOAD "ÚTKÖZBEN" (kbps: 320)

DOWNLOAD "JELENKOR" (kbps: 320)